Method and apparatus for scheduling appointments for single location entries

ABSTRACT

A method for scheduling an appointment using a scheduling software system, includes receiving appointment information entered into appointment scheduling fields of the scheduling software system, the appointment scheduling fields including a location field and a time zone field, updating a user&#39;s calendar entries based on the appointment information, causing a search engine to look up a suggested time zone associated with the appointment information entered into the location field and comparing the appointment information entered into the time zone field with the suggested time zone.

BACKGROUND TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to scheduling appointments and,more particularly, to a method and apparatus for scheduling appointmentsfor single location entries.

DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND ART

There are various software systems that allow users to schedule events,manage and organize information and communicate with each other. Onesystem is Microsoft's Outlook which is a personal information managementand communications program. One feature of Outlook allows users toarrange appointments and meetings by inputting information such as thenames of the participant(s) invited, the start/end time of the meeting,etc. The user arranging the appointment (e.g., meeting, conference call,etc.) is generally referred to herein as the creator.

When creating an appointment or a meeting request in Outlook, the timezone for which the creator's computer is set is used as the default timezone in which the Outlook entry will be scheduled. However, not allparticipants may be in the same time zone. In extreme cases, eachparticipant may be in a separate time zone, and even the creator may be,at the scheduled time, in a time zone different from that in which thecreator's computer was set when the Outlook entry was created. Thisdisparity can cause many problems for the creator of the appointment ormeeting, who must keep these time zones changes in mind when selectingthe best time. For example, a participant's calendar, when accessed viathe Outlook Exchange Server, may appear to the creator as open at ascheduled time. However, that may be due to the fact that the scheduledtime may be outside business hours in the time zone in which theparticipant normally is located, making the scheduled time inappropriatefor a business meeting. Likewise, the creator may miscalculate the timechange for an upcoming business trip, thereby scheduling meetings atunintended scheduled times.

Present systems do not automatically account for time zone changes, manyof which are otherwise unknown to the system. If the system is not awareof time zone differences because it does not track this information,then the system cannot account for the differences. The time zonedifference information may only reside in the mind of the user, forcingthe user to remember and correctly account for such information, if theuser even has such information. Because the present systems do notaccount for such time zone difference information and the user may notremember or correctly account for it, errors may be made in planningCalendar events. Such errors can result in incorrectly scheduled meetingrequests, for example, that may not be accepted by the invitees becauseof the poor timing, forcing the scheduling person to create an UpdatedMeeting Request. This may consume more than twice as much of thecreator's time as was required for creating the first Meeting Request.

SUMMARY

This application describes tools (in the form of methodologies,apparatuses, and systems) for scheduling appointments. The tools may beembodied in one or more computer programs stored on a computer readablemedium or program storage device and/or transmitted in the form of acomputer data signal in one or more segments via a computer network orother transmission medium.

A method for scheduling an appointment using a scheduling softwaresystem, comprises receiving appointment information entered intoappointment scheduling fields of the scheduling software system, theappointment scheduling fields including a location field and a time zonefield, updating a user's calendar entries based on the appointmentinformation, causing a search engine to look up a suggested time zoneassociated with the appointment information entered into the locationfield and comparing the appointment information entered into the timezone field with the suggested time zone.

A programmed computer system for performing a method for scheduling anappointment using a scheduling software system, said method comprisingreceiving appointment information entered into appointment schedulingfields of the scheduling software system, the appointment schedulingfields including a location field and a time zone field, updating auser's calendar entries based on the appointment information, causing asearch engine to look up a suggested time zone associated with theappointment information entered into the location field and comparingthe appointment information entered into the time zone field with thesuggested time zone.

A computer recording medium including computer executable code forscheduling an appointment using a scheduling software system, comprisescode for receiving appointment information entered into appointmentscheduling fields of the scheduling software system, the appointmentscheduling fields including a location field and a time zone field, codefor updating a user's calendar entries based on the appointmentinformation, code for causing a search engine to look up a suggestedtime zone associated with the appointment information entered into thelocation field and code for comparing the appointment informationentered into the time zone field with the suggested time zone.

A method for scheduling an appointment using a scheduling softwaresystem, comprises receiving appointment information entered intoappointment scheduling fields of the scheduling software system, theappointment scheduling fields including a location field and a time zonefield, updating a user's calendar entries based on the appointmentinformation and allowing the user to view the appointment in the user'scalendar before the user saves the appointment.

A programmed computer system for performing a method for scheduling anappointment using a scheduling software system, the method comprisingreceiving appointment information entered into appointment schedulingfields of the scheduling software system, the appointment schedulingfields including a location field and a time zone field, updating auser's calendar entries based on the appointment information andallowing the user to view the appointment in the user's calendar beforethe user saves the appointment.

A computer recording medium including computer executable code forscheduling an appointment using a scheduling software system, comprisescode for receiving appointment information entered into appointmentscheduling fields of the scheduling software system, the appointmentscheduling fields including a location field and a time zone field, codefor updating a user's calendar entries based on the appointmentinformation and code for allowing the user to view the appointment inthe user's calendar before the user saves the appointment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the present disclosure and many of theattendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the samebecomes better understood by reference to the following detaileddescription when considered in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer system capable of implementingembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a screen shot of an Outlook window used for creatingappointments according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for describing a search engine according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for describing a search according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a screen shot of an Outlook window used for viewing a scheduleaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a screen shot of an Outlook window used for viewing a scheduleaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a screen shot of an Outlook window used for schedulingappointments according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 8 is a screen shot of an Outlook window used for viewing a scheduleaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a screen shot of an Outlook window used for schedulingappointments according to a further embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following exemplary embodiments are set forth to aid in anunderstanding of the subject matter of this disclosure, but are notintended, and may not be construed, to limit in any way the claims whichfollow thereafter. Therefore, while specific terminology is employed forthe sake of clarity in describing some exemplary embodiments, thepresent disclosure is not intended to be limited to the specificterminology so selected, and it is to be understood that each specificelement includes all technical equivalents which operate in a similarmanner.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a computer system 100 which may implement themethod and system of the present disclosure. The system and method ofthe present disclosure may be implemented in the form of a softwareapplication running on a computer system, for example, a mainframe,personal computer (PC), handheld computer, server, etc. The softwareapplication may be stored on a recording media locally accessible by thecomputer system, for example, floppy disk, compact disk, hard disk,etc., or may be remote from the computer system and accessible via ahard wired or wireless connection to a network, for example, a localarea network, or the Internet.

The computer system 100 can include a central processing unit (CPU) 102,program and data storage devices 104, a printer interface 106, a displayunit 108, a (LAN) local area network data transmission controller 110, aLAN interface 112, a network controller 114, an internal bus 116, andone or more input devices 118 (for example, a keyboard, mouse etc.). Asshown , the system 100 may be connected to a database 120, via a link122.

The computer system 100 is merely exemplary. The specific embodimentsdescribed herein are illustrative, computer system(s) as referred toherein may include(s) individual computers, servers, computingresources, networks, etc., and many variations can be introduced onthese embodiments without departing from the spirit of the disclosure orfrom the scope of the appended claims.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a time zoneinformation box is associated with an Outlook entry made to schedule anappointment so that the time zone may be specified when the entry iscreated. Although embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed with respect to Outlook, it will be appreciated that aspectsof the present disclosure may be applied to other personal informationmanagement and communications systems.

FIG. 2 is a view of an Outlook window used for scheduling appointments.The creator of the appointment inputs a Subject of the appointment inbox 20 and a Location of the appointment in box 22. If the appointmentis for an online meeting, the user can specify the type using pull downmenu 30. The user can also specify a start date and time in boxes 24, 25and end date and time in boxes 26 and 27 and can arrange an all dayevent by checking box 28. The user is also able to arrange remindersusing pull down menu 32, indicate how the time will be shown blocked inthe participants'calendar (box 34) and can assign a label in box 36.Window 38 allows the creator to provide detailed information about themeeting if desired.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the creatorenters a Location in box 22, the time zone last entered for thatlocation (if any) will be displayed in Time Zone box 23. The creator canthen leave the time zone as displayed in box 23 or can select anothertime zone by either typing in a new one or selecting one using the dropdown menu button 21.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, in response to the creator entering a Location in Outlook 74(Step S10), a search engine 70 searches a reference database 72 for atime zone(s) associated with the Location (Step S12). The time zone(s)are returned to Outlook 74 and displayed in box 23 (FIG. 2) (Step S14).Database 72 may be provided on the same computer system as Outlook orcan be remotely accessible therefrom. The creator then has an option ofconfirming the time zone displayed in box 23. by leaving the time zonein box 23 or changing the determined time zone by modifying the timezone in box 23 (Step S16). If, for example, “My Office” is located inEastern Standard Time (EST) time zone, the first time the location “MyOffice” is used as an appointment location, box 23 will be blank and thecreator can select the correct time zone (EST) using drop down menu 21.Then, whenever the location “My Office” or another name corresponding to“My Office” is selected in the future, EST will automatically beselected and displayed in box 23. According to another embodiment, when“My Office” is entered as the appointment location, the system willautomatically assign it the time zone presently assigned on the computerbeing used. The user can then change the time zone as desired.

According to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the timezone for “My Office” may be determined by referencing the creator'sprofile in the Outlook address book. If the office address data arepopulated for the creator, the location of the office may act as adefault time zone for appointments at the creator's office (e.g., “MyOffice”). While an appointment may be created without specifying thelocation (which may be To-be-determined (“TBD”)), at least a defaulttime zone should be referenced. If no appointment information is enteredthat specifies the location of the appointment, a default time zone maybe the time zone for which the computer is configured at the time theappointment is created. However, according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure, the user may also configure the default time zone tocorrespond, for instance, to the user's office location, the user'scomputer's current time zone, or any other preferred time zone.

The inclusion of information in the Location field 22 of the Outlookentry such as names of cities, states, or countries may result inadditional hits in the search for the appropriate time zone. Forexample, in response to the location “Paris” being entered into Locationbox 22, search engine 70 might retrieve several possible time zonesincluding, for example, Central European Time for Paris, France, andCentral [US] Time for Paris, Tex. Each choice would be shown in the pulldown menu window 23, allowing the creator to select the correct timezone. These time zone entries may be stored in a time zone look-uptable, which may include both independently available atlas data as wellas personally configurable data, such as location favorites. Searchingthe time zone look-up table may yield a suggested time zone forscheduling the appointment. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, more frequently and/or more recently used locations appearhigher on the list of possible time zone selections in pull down menuwindow 23. The calendar entries for that appointment are then shifted inthe system based on the selected time zone (Step S18). If theappointment information received in the time zone field differs from thesuggested time zone, the user may be prompted to select the correct timezone, such as selecting between the user-entered time zone and thesuggested time zone. If the user does not enter location data or timezone data, the user may be prompted to select use of a default time zoneas the suggested time zone.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when a creatorcreates a personal Appointment (e.g., no one is invited, and hence noother individual's calendars are involved), this single modification ofOutlook would determine the time zone change for the creator so that thecreator selects the desired scheduled time, as compared with thecreator's selected time zone setting at the time of the creation of theAppointment. Thus, when the creator views Calendar availability, thetimes would automatically be shifted accordingly for any shown OutlookCalendar entries.

After inputting the appointment information and clicking on Schedulingtab 40 (FIG. 2), the user is presented with a window as shown in FIG. 5,thereby allowing the user to view the appointment in the user's calendarbefore the user saves the appointment. The scheduling window showsattendees 62 of the meeting as well as a calendar 63. Outlook uses acoloring pattern to clearly indicate at a glance the status of time in auser's scheduling calendar. As shown in the bottom left hand side of thewindow, there are four states that can be shown. Although shown in blackand white, it will be appreciated that in actuality, the color codes areas follows. White stripes 60 indicate that no information is availablefor that user for that time. Blue 54 indicates that the correspondinguser is busy (booked) for that time. Blue stripes 56 indicate that thecorresponding user is tentatively booked, and maroon 58 indicates thatthe corresponding user is out of office for that time. For example, asshown, colored bar 50 indicates that participant “Sam Snea” is busy from9:30-10:00 and colored bar 52 indicates that Sam is Out of Office from12:00-2:00.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in place of or inaddition to the standard four-color coloring pattern described above,additional colors may be used to indicate time zone differences betweenthe location where the creator entered the appointment into Outlook andthe location where the appointment is to actually take place. Forexample, according to an embodiment of the present.disclosure, green 92represents plus one hour, yellow 94 represent minus one hour, red 96.represents plus two hours, pink 98 represent minus two hours, etc. Thebars (50, 52) may be arranged so that the top half of the bar displaysthe color code corresponding to the status of time in a user'sscheduling calendar and the bottom half of the bar is color coded toindicate the time zone difference.

Because the creator's Calendar availability shifts to the correct timesof day for the appropriate time zone of a particular Outlook Calendarentry, the creator can accurately compare the creator's availability foran in-person meeting with the availabilities of invitees to thein-person meeting when creating an in-person meeting request. Hence, thein-person meeting request would be scheduled for the desired time of dayof the time zone for the entered Location, and allparticipants'availabilities would be comparable since each person wouldbe in the same time zone in order to attend the in-person meeting.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the creatormay create a Meeting Request, whereby one or more invitees are invitedto attend. The present time zone setting of each invitee is sent by theexchange server providing each invitee's availability information to thecreator and displayed in a Time Zone column 61 as shown in FIG. 6. Thisallows the creator to compare differences in time zones among theintended invitees of a single location meeting, in the Scheduling View.While the present differences in time zones should disappear when allattendees are at the meeting location, this information may foreshadowdifficulties with invitees'abilities to travel to the meeting locationand/or their ability and/or willingness to participate remotely viateleconference at a particular time.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are useful for multiple locationcalendar entries as well as single location calendar entries describedabove. According to various embodiments of the present disclosure threetime zones may be specified including a default time zone, a selectedtime zone and one or more future time zones. According to an embodimentof the present disclosure, the present system correlates the user'scurrent address information (e.g., the user's present location) with theappropriate time zone. This is referred to herein as the user's defaulttime zone. The current time zone setting for the user's computer isreferred to as the selected time zone. The selected time zone is used byOutlook to identify the times when emails arrive, and other eventsoccur. The user can create future time zone settings based on plannedtrips. Future time zone settings are similar to the “All-day Event”entry used in Outlook. The future time zone settings might be enteredfor vacation days, for example, so that when the trip occurs, a remindercan be provided to the user to adopt a new time zone setting as hisdefault time zone setting. In the alternative, the new time zone settingcan be automatically applied by the system if the user desires, when thereminder is viewed. Thus, each user would have a default time zonesetting, a current time zone setting, and potentially multiple futuretime zone settings. It will be appreciated that depending oncircumstances, the three time zone settings may correlate to the sametime zone or multiple different time zones.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when creating anOutlook Calendar entry, if the creator selects a time zone differentfrom the time zone setting presently set, Outlook prompts the creator toindicate in the creator's Calendar the dates during which the creatorwill be in a different time zone. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, ifthe creator's selected time zone is EST and the creator enters anappointment in California (a time zone of PST), a window 35 will pop upprompting the creator to select the dates during which he will be inthat time zone. After the creator enters the From and To dates, thepresent system automatically populates the creator's calendar with theinformation.

Because such personal time zone information may then be stored in acreator's Calendar, this personal time zone information may be used whenthe creator creates a Meeting Request with other users in the creator'sOutlook Exchange Server network, whose Calendar information is alsoavailable to the creator. Combined with the three types (default timezone, current time zone setting, and future time zone settings) of timezone information of other users, the creator of a Meeting Request for ateleconference is able to import not only the availability information(free, booked, tentatively booked, or absent) of the invitees, but alsothe corresponding time zone information. For example, a participantbased in Germany may be scheduled to be in California during ateleconference created by a colleague in France (creator). If thecreator is unaware of this, the creator may schedule a time for theteleconference that may be very inconvenient to the participantscheduled to be in California. This would likely result in theparticipant suggesting an alternative Meeting Request time, instead of asimple acceptance of the Meeting Request. However, according to enembodiment of the present disclosure, since the creator will see thatthe participant is scheduled to be in California during theteleconference when scheduling the teleconference, the creator can takethis into consideration when selecting a convenient time.

As described above, colors may be used to indicate time zone differences(e.g., green for plus one hour, green stripes for minus one hour, yellowfor plus two hours, yellow stripes for minus two hours, etc.). Inaddition, according to another embodiment of the present disclosure,colors and or shading may be used to indicate convenience of overlappingschedules'selected business hours. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, if aGermany-based colleague (Andy Smith) has selected office hours of8:00-17:00 CET, and a California-based colleague (John Jones) hasselected office hours of 7:00-17:00 PST, then because of the 9-hour timezone difference, the one-hour overlap of 16:00-17:00 CET/07:00-08:00 PSTwould be shaded light green 80 (in this example, light gray) in TimeZone Convenience indicator bar 81. Each overlapping hour before andafter that would be shaded different colors and/or shades 82 (e.g.,light orange), and progressively farther apart overlapping hours wouldbe shaded progressively darker colors and/or shades 83 (e.g., red).Hence, light green shading 80 would represent convenient times, lightorange shading 82 would represent slightly inconvenient times, and othertimes would be shaded a darker shade of red as the time becomesprogressively more inconvenient The combination of multipleinvitees'time zone and availability information could thus assist in thequicker selection of a time that is at best, hopefully convenient toall, or at least, the least inconvenient to most.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure as shown in FIG. 9,the user can select whether the meeting request is for a single locationmeeting (e.g., where all invitees are in the same room) or a multiplelocation meeting such as a teleconference, video conference, webex, etc.(e.g., where some or all invitees are in different locations.) Byselecting either single location meeting button 84 or multiple locationmeeting button 85, the present system can help the user navigate theappropriate time zones. For example, selecting single location meetingbutton 84 will then prompt the user with the screens shown in FIGS. 2,5, 6 and/or 7. Selecting multiple location meeting button 85 will promptthe user with a screen such as that shown in FIG. 8. In this way, thepresent system can prompt the user to provide an appropriate amount andtype of time zone information that is relevant to the type ofappointment being scheduled.

The present system can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry,or in computer hardware, firmware, software, or in combinations of them.The present system can be implemented as a computer program product,i.e., a computer program tangibly embodied in an information carrier,e.g., in a machine-readable storage device or in a propagated signal,for execution by, or to control the operation of, data processingapparatus, e.g., a programmable processor, a computer, or multiplecomputers. A computer program can be written in any form of programminglanguage, including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can bedeployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module,component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computingenvironment. A computer program can be deployed to be executed on onecomputer or on multiple computers at one site or distributed acrossmultiple sites and interconnected by a communication network.

Method steps associated with the present system can be performed by oneor more programmable processors executing a computer program to performfunctions of the invention by operating on input data and generatingoutput. Method steps can also be performed by, and apparatus of theinvention can be implemented as, special purpose logic circuitry, e.g.,an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC (application-specificintegrated circuit).

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, andany one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, aprocessor will receive instructions and data from a read-only memory ora random access memory or both. The elements of a computer are aprocessor for executing instructions and one or more memory devices forstoring instructions and data. Generally, a computer will also include,or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer data to, orboth, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, e.g., magnetic,magneto-optical disks, or optical disks. Information carriers suitablefor embodying computer program instructions and data include all formsof non-volatile memory, including by way of example, semiconductormemory devices, e.g., EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory),EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), and flashmemory devices; magnetic disks, e.g., internal hard disks or removabledisks; magneto-optical disks; CD-ROMs (Compact Disc Read-only Memory)and DVD-ROMs (Digital Versatile Disc Read-only Memory). The processorand the memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in specialpurpose logic circuitry. To provide for interaction with a user, thepresent system can be implemented on a computer having a display device,e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor,for displaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointingdevice, e.g., a mouse or a trackball, by which the user can provideinput to the computer. Other kinds of devices can be used to provide forinteraction with a user as well; for example, feedback provided to theuser can be any form of sensory feedback, e.g., visual feedback,auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; and input from the user can bereceived in any form, including acoustic, speech, or tactile input.

The present system can be implemented in a computing system thatincludes a back-end component, e.g., as a data server, or that includesa middle-ware component, e.g., an application server, or that includes afront-end component, e.g., a client computer having a graphicalinterface or a Web browser through which a user can interact with animplementation of the invention, or any combination of such back-end,middleware, or front-end components. The components of the computingsystem can be interconnected by any form or medium of digital datacommunication, e.g., a communication network. Examples of communicationnetworks include a local area network (“LAN”) and a wide area network(“WAN”), e.g., the Internet.

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network. The relationship of client and serverarises by virtue of computer programs running on respective computersand having a client-server relationship to each other.

The present system has been described in terms of particularembodiments. Other embodiments are within the scope of the followingclaims.

Numerous additional modifications and variations of the presentdisclosure are possible in view of the above-teachings. It is thereforeto be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, thepresent disclosure may be practiced other than as specifically describedherein. For example, elements and/or features of different illustrativeembodiments may be combined with each other and/or substituted for eachother within the scope of this disclosure and appended claims.

1. A method for scheduling an appointment using a scheduling softwaresystem, comprising: receiving appointment information entered intoappointment scheduling fields of the scheduling software system, theappointment scheduling fields including a location field and a time zonefield; updating a user's calendar entries based on the appointmentinformation; causing a search engine to look up a suggested time zoneassociated with the appointment information entered into the locationfield; and comparing the appointment information entered into the timezone field with the suggested time zone.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: pre-populating the time zone field with thesuggested time zone if no appointment information is received for thetime zone field.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the suggested timezone is a default time zone associated with the user if the locationfield is blank.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: promptinga user to select a correct time zone if the appointment informationreceived for the time zone field differs from the suggested time zone.5. The method of claim 1, wherein the location field comprisesappointment information identifying at least one of a city, state,country and place describing the location.
 6. The method of claim 1,further comprising: associating a new location field entry with a timezone field entry; and tracking the location field entry and itsassociated time zone field entry in a time-zone look-up database.
 7. Themethod of claim 3, wherein the default time zone is configurable by theuser.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the scheduling software systemcomprises Microsoft's Outlook.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein thecalendar entries are displayed color coded to indicate time zonedifferences.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein a time zone differencerepresents a difference between the time zone setting on the user'scomputer when the appointment was input to the system and the time zoneof the appointment location.
 11. A programmed computer system forperforming a method for scheduling an appointment using a schedulingsoftware system, said method comprising: receiving appointmentinformation entered into appointment scheduling fields of the schedulingsoftware system, the appointment scheduling fields including a locationfield and a time zone field; updating a user's calendar entries based onthe appointment information; causing a search engine to look up asuggested time zone associated with the appointment information enteredinto the location field; and comparing the appointment informationentered into the time zone field with the suggested time zone.
 12. Theprogrammed computer system of claim 11, further comprising:pre-populating the time zone field with the suggested time zone if noappointment information is received for the time zone field.
 13. Theprogrammed computer system of claim 11, wherein the suggested time zoneis a default time zone associated with the user if the location field isblank.
 14. The programmed computer system of claim 11, furthercomprising: prompting a user to select a correct time zone if theappointment information received for the time zone field differs fromthe suggested time zone.
 15. The programmed computer system of claim 11,wherein the location field comprises appointment information identifyingat least one of a city, state, country and place describing thelocation.
 16. The programmed computer system of claim 11, furthercomprising: associating a new location field entry with a time zonefield entry; and tracking the location field entry and its associatedtime zone field entry in a time-zone look-up database.
 17. Theprogrammed computer system of claim 13, wherein the default time zone isconfigurable by the user.
 18. The programmed computer system of claim11, wherein the scheduling software system comprises Microsoft'sOutlook.
 19. The programmed computer system of claim 11, wherein thecalendar entries are displayed color coded to indicate time zonedifferences.
 20. The programmed computer system of claim 19, wherein atime zone difference represents a difference between the time zonesetting on the user's computer when the appointment was input to thesystem and the time zone of the appointment location.
 21. A computerrecording medium including computer executable code for scheduling anappointment using a scheduling software system, comprising: code forreceiving appointment information entered into appointment schedulingfields of the scheduling software system, the appointment schedulingfields including a location field and a time zone field; code forupdating a user's calendar entries based on the appointment information;code for causing a search engine to look up a suggested time zoneassociated with the appointment information entered into the locationfield; and code for comparing the appointment information entered intothe time zone field with the suggested time zone.
 22. The computerrecording medium of claim 21, further comprising: code forpre-populating the time zone field with the suggested time zone if noappointment information is received for the time zone field.
 23. Thecomputer recording medium of claim 21, wherein the suggested time zoneis a default time zone associated with the user if the location field isblank.
 24. The computer recording medium of claim 21, furthercomprising: code for prompting a user to select a correct time zone ifthe appointment information received for the time zone field differsfrom the suggested time zone.
 25. The computer recording medium of claim21, wherein the location field comprises appointment informationidentifying at least one of a city, state, country and place describingthe location.
 26. The computer recording medium of claim 22, furthercomprising: code for associating a new location field entry with a timezone field entry; and code for tracking the location field entry and itsassociated time zone field entry in a time-zone look-up database. 27.The computer recording medium of claim 23, wherein the default time zoneis configurable by the user.
 28. The computer recording medium of claim21, wherein the scheduling software system comprises Microsoft'sOutlook.
 29. The computer recording medium of claim 21, wherein thecalendar entries are displayed color coded to indicate time zonedifferences.
 30. The computer recording medium of claim 29, wherein atime zone difference represents a difference between the time zonesetting on the user's computer when the appointment was input to thesystem and the time zone of the appointment location.
 31. A method forscheduling an appointment using a scheduling software system,comprising: receiving appointment information entered into appointmentscheduling fields of the scheduling software system, the appointmentscheduling fields including a location field and a time zone field;updating a user's calendar entries based on the appointment information;and allowing the user to view the appointment in the user's calendarbefore the user saves the appointment.
 32. A programmed computer systemfor performing a method for scheduling an appointment using a schedulingsoftware system, said method comprising: receiving appointmentinformation entered into appointment scheduling fields of the schedulingsoftware system, the appointment scheduling fields including a locationfield and a time zone field; updating a user's calendar entries based onthe appointment information; and allowing the user to view theappointment in the user's calendar before the user saves theappointment.
 33. A computer recording medium including computerexecutable code for scheduling an appointment using a schedulingsoftware system, comprising: code for receiving appointment informationentered into appointment scheduling fields of the scheduling softwaresystem, the appointment scheduling fields including a location field anda time zone field; code for updating a user's calendar entries based onthe appointment information; and code for allowing the user to view theappointment in the user's calendar before the user saves theappointment.
 34. The method of claim 1, wherein the appointmentscheduling fields allow the user to distinguish between a singlelocation appointment and a multiple location appointment.
 35. Theprogrammed computer system of claim 11, wherein the appointmentscheduling fields allow the user to distinguish between a singlelocation appointment and a multiple location appointment.
 36. Thecomputer recording medium of claim 21, wherein the appointmentscheduling fields allow the user to distinguish between a singlelocation appointment and a multiple location appointment.
 37. The methodof claim 31, wherein the appointment scheduling fields allow the user todistinguish between a single location appointment and a multiplelocation appointment.
 38. The programmed computer system of claim 32,wherein the appointment scheduling fields allow the user to distinguishbetween a single location appointment and a multiple locationappointment.
 39. The computer recording medium of claim 33, wherein theappointment scheduling fields allow the user to distinguish between asingle location appointment and a multiple location appointment.